Friday, February 13, 2015

People's Choice Advocacy Award Nomination

Finalists for the People’s
Choice award include state or local bicycle advocacy organizations whose
“exemplary work” significantly improved bicycling in their
communities though infrastructure or programs that helped make
bicycling more “accessible to all”.

Last year, Bike East Bay won the inaugural
People’s Choice Award for their 40 year (!) campaign to win bicycle access
on the San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) System. BART began service
in 1972 with no provision for access by bicyclists – Bike East Bay (back then
known as the East Bay Bicycle Coalition) was founded that same year with the
specific goal of gaining bicycle access on BART. It wasn’t until 2013 that BART
permanently removed the long-time rush-hour bike ban – finally providing equal access
for bicyclists.

The nine national finalists
for the 2015 People’s Choice Award are:

The Bicycle
Coalition of Maine grew its statewide advocacy program, Community
Spokes, a network of over 75 passionate local bicycle and pedestrian
advocates working to make their communities and the state a better place
to ride or walk. The Bicycle Coalition also hosted its second annual Bike
Maine ride, a week-long tour of the state which contributed an estimated
$395,000 in direct economic benefits to the communities along the 350-mile
route.

Bike Delaware strategic funding campaign – Walkable
Bikeable Delaware – helped win $30 million in new and discretionary state and federal funding for cycling
and walking over four state budget cycles. Also thanks to the help of Bike
Delaware and its partners, Delaware has leapt up in the Bicycle Friendly
State rankings and is now ranked 4th in
the country.

Bike Pittsburgh started 2014 off with a bang with the city
being named as a Green Lane 2.0 city in March and installed their first
three protected bike lane projects in September. In addition through the
organization’s advocacy, seven new miles of traditional painted bike lanes
and sharrows were added, bringing the citywide grand total to 65 miles.
Bike Pittsburgh also hosted its first Open Streets event and its 10th
annual BikeFest.

Bike Walk RVA, a program of the Sports Backers in Richmond,
VA, launched its Connect RVA campaign. Bike Walk RVA worked closely with
City Council and the community to build support for increased funding, and
in June secured a combined $4.5 million in the city budget for new bikeway
and trails projects (up from $50,000 in the Mayor’s proposed budget). The
City has started installing buffered bike lanes and moving towards
implementing a bike share system.

Cascade Bicycle Club saw Seattle’s City Council unanimously pass the
updated Bicycle Master Plan, setting the stage for almost 475 miles of all
ages and abilities infrastructure across the city. The Second Avenue
Protected Bike Lane also opened, and within after the installation of the
new protected bike lane, ridership increased to an average of 1,099
bicyclists a day–three times the daily number of bicyclists that had
previously used the former one-way bike lane!

Georgia Bikes, a statewide advocacy organization, saw the
growth of more Bicycle Friendly Communities, Universities, and Businesses
in the Peach State in 2014. Georgia Bikes also coordinated a hugely
successful, 9th annual Ride to the Capitol, drawing hundreds of bicyclists
to the state capitol in Atlanta to rally for better bicycling.

GObike Buffalo hosted its first ever SkyRide, a ride that
highlighted bicycle infrastructure throughout the city and included a ride
over the Skyway, a 1.4 mile long, 110 ft high freeway bridge, that was
closed for the first time ever to cars and opened to more than 900
bicyclists. GObike also secured funding matched by the City to update
Buffalo’s Bicycle Master Plan.

Minneapolis Bicycle
Coalition celebrated its 5 year
anniversary in 2014 and secured $750,000 in the city’s budget for
protected bikeways; delivered over 3,400 postcards in support of protected
bikeways to City Hall; and hosted six Open Streets events with 40,000
participants and 500 volunteers.

San Diego County Bicycle Coalition hosted CicloSDias
– San Diego’s only open streets event – and opened the streets to more
than 25,000 people to safely bike, walk, and explore local businesses. The
Bicycle Coalition’s Executive Director also became the Committee Chair of
the City’s Bicycle Advisory Committee and will guide the strategic vision
for the Bicycle Master Plan by working directly with elected officials and
decision makers.